Tax Foundation: NJ 49th Among States for Tax Competitiveness: Bottom Two for Nine Years in a Row and Every Year Under Gov. Murphy
October 31, 2024Young Teachers Are Forced into a Lousy Pension System. There Is a Better Alternative.
November 8, 2024Sunlight had the opportunity to view another quarterly IRS Form 8872 filing by the NJEA’s Super PAC, Garden State Forward for the July 1 – September 30 period, which was a very busy quarter for Garden State Forward.
Here are the notable contributions:
- Working New Jersey: $7.25 million
- Education Truth Project: $200,000 (2024 total $300,000)
- Working Families Party: $150,000
- Action Together New Jersey: $50,000 (2024 total $100,000)
Working New Jersey: The pro-Spiller Super PAC Working New Jersey was formed in August and staffed by former NJEA officers, and by September had received $7.25 million from Garden State Forward. NJEA leadership looks like they intend to spend the full $35 million backing Spiller. That’s a lot of teachers’ dues being spent without their knowledge or consent.
Education Truth Project (ETP) and Action Together New Jersey (ATNJ): ETP is a dark-money NJEA front that serves as a conduit to New Jersey Public Education Coalition (NJPEC), founded by Mendacious Michael “Hundreds of Millions” Gottesman. NJPEC and ATNJ are the NJEA’s school-board elections PACs. ATNJ has partnered with NJPEC in recruiting, training, and supporting progressive/NJEA-friendly school board candidates both in 2023 and 2024. The combined 2024 total of $400,000 would be a lot of money to spend on school board races, which are usually low-budget affairs. ATNJ is apparently also helping with (paid?) GOTV for Democrats in Pennsylvania. When you see ETP, NJPEC, and ATNJ in action, know that it is NJEA money behind them.
Working Families Party (WFP): WFP is paid GOTV for the NJEA. As teachers have become less willing to be involved in politics, the NJEA has increasingly outsourced GOTV to the Working Families organization (including the New Jersey Working Families Alliance). It continues to do so in 2024.
These four organizations are key parts of the NJEA’s vast network of dark-money fronts and allies. Only by following the money can we get a sense of how large, multi-faceted, and well-funded the NJEA’s network is, and what outsized influence it has on New Jersey politics. ALL of this is being funded by New Jersey teachers’ highest-in-the-nation dues without their knowledge or consent. Even worse, these are your tax dollars at work for a special interest. What a scam.